Six Reasons Why Everyone Is Moving to Austin, Texas

My son Michael ran across this on-line article and passed it to me. I have summarized the content of the piece and found no surprises, only a confirmation of what has happened and what is happening. Hope y’all find it interesting.

1) Austin has a booming economy: 150 people are moving here each day. This in itself creates jobs in the service and retail industries. For the record, Forbes in 2013 named Austin as the #1 city for jobs and in 2014 it named Austin as the #1 city for future job growth (I think we hit that mark!). The 2014 unemployment rate was about 3.8%.

2) One of the best tech start up cities: This area is known as “Silicon Hills” vs. San Jose, California’s “Silicon Valley”. As many of you may already know, a lot of California tech firms have either relocated here or expanded their operations here.

3) High quality of life: Austin has miles of biking paths, hiking trails, jogging paths and a great swimming hole called Barton Springs where the water averages 68 F which is awfully nice during our 90 F summers. It has been named a Green City and an Energy Efficient City by those folks passing out the titles for such things!

4) A great place for young and old: Austin was #2 by parenting.com as the best city to raise a family. I can testify to that as this was one of the main reasons I decided to move here way back in 1981, when I was young(er). Now that I’m old(er) I still consider Austin a great place to call home. Forbes ranked Austin as a great place to retire. Austin has something for everyone!

5) Fun things to do: US News ranked Austin as the #6 place in the USA for fun things to do. To do what you ask? How about Austin City Limits, South by Southwest, F-1 racing, Austin Film Festival, the X Games, and that is the short list!

6) Low cost of living relative to income: In 2014 the median value of house in Austin was $245K vs. almost $290K in the USA. Comparing Austin home values to Silicon Hills home values Silicon Hills gets whooped even more! And don’t forget Texas does not have a state income tax.

So if you can’t live here at least you can invest your money here by buying Austin area residential real estate.